96th Street (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)

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96th Street
New York City Subway station
Station information
Line	IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line
Services	1 (all times) 2 (all times) 3 (all except late nights)
Platforms	2 island platforms (2 side platforms used as part of fare control)
Tracks	4
Passengers (2006)	10.890 million ▲ 0.5%
Other
Borough	Manhattan
Opened	October 27, 1904^[1]
Next north	103rd Street (Broadway-7th local): 1 157th Street (Broadway-7th express): no regular service Central Park North–110th Street (Lenox): 2 3
Next south	86th Street (Local): 1 2 72nd Street (Express): 2 3 Closed: 91st Street

96th Street is an express station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 96th Street and Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, it is served by the 1 and 2 trains (all times), and by the 3 train (all times except late nights).

The station's configuration, with both island and side platforms, is unusual in the New York City Subway. As originally intended, the island platforms facilitated an easy transfer between local and express trains, while the shorter side platforms provided easy access from local trains to the street. This was also the design at Brooklyn Bridge and 14th Street on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line. When the subway first opened, it was possible to open both sides of the train at once. With the advent of full-length local trains and electronic doors controlled by a lone conductor, this system was no longer practical, and the side platforms were taken out of service.

Access to the station is from stairways along the sidewalks of Broadway to the extreme north end of the side platforms, then to the center island platforms via an underpass. A former public restroom now being used as a community center in the median of Broadway north of 96th is sometimes mistaken for a former subway station headhouse, however this structure was built decades after the subway station, and conforms to the design of other public restroom buildings in New York City,^[2] rather than to the design of IRT subway headhouses such as 72nd Street.

The station was renovated in 1950 to accommodate longer trains. It was both extended and widened. The extent of the original station is clearly visible, as the renovation was not done in the same style. Differences in the walls and ceiling are visible at the south end.

The creation of the new entrance at 94th Street led directly to the closure of the 91st Street station, as it would have been impractical to lengthen it for 10-car local trains with an adjacent station so close by.

North of 96th Street station, the express tracks descend and turn east under 104th Street on their way to the IRT Lenox Avenue Line and the Bronx, while the local tracks remain on the upper level. After the express tracks turn off, a currently unused center track starts at approximately 100th Street.

In July 2006, Manhattan Community Board 7 approved an $80 million renovation of the station. Construction is expected to start in early 2007. Plans call for a new headhouse between 96th and 95th streets, with staircases and elevators leading directly to the platforms, while the underpass will remain for transfers between platforms. The side platforms will become office and control space, and the entrances removed to accommodate narrowed sidewalks resulting from the roadway being displaced by the new headhouse and its island.^[3] Local residents have voiced dissatisfaction with the significant loss of sidewalks adjacent to businesses, however most are glad to see the dilapidated station restored.^[4]